Many of us have stocked our homes to the rafters with beans, rice,
bullets, and band-aids. Each trip to the store adds more to our
stockpiles as we try to get what we need before time runs out. Newbie
preppers are feeling even more frantic, wondering how
to prepare when each week it takes more money to put less in the
grocery cart. (If you’re new to preparedness, here’s a little primer
with some great links.)

With the situation looking more grim by the day, it is very clear
that stockpiling is not enough. No matter how many cans of green beans
you have stored away, one day they will run out. We have become so
dependent on the “buy it as you need it” lifestyle that despite our food
storage, there are still gaps that must be filled.

And the only way to fill these gaps is through that which is a step
beyond prepping….self sufficiency.

Self sufficiency is defined as the ability to provide for oneself
without the help of others. No amount of stockpiling gives you true
self sufficiency. It is a combination of skills, supplies, attitudes
and habits that mean the difference between a person with a great pantry
and a true survivor.

Self-sufficiency is for…

The day the grocery stores close their doors or become so
expensive that people cannot afford to shop

The day that the FEMA Camp gates open in only one direction

The day that the banks go on an indefinite holiday, after
draining depositor savings accounts and pension funds

The day that electricity and heat on demand become so expensive
that only the wealthy can afford them

The day that medical care no longer exists for the average
person, or is directed by government death panels

The day that a natural disaster or false flag locks down the
country and completely, irrevocably changes our way of life

The list could go on and on. These things are hurtling towards us
and we must be ready. Self sufficiency, unlike prepping, doesn’t cost a
lot of money – it’s about planning and acquiring basic skills and tools.
It is about putting your plan into practice before you have no other
option but to do so.

What would you do if you could never go to a store again? If you
could never have utilities provided by a supplier again? What if you
were truly on your own, forever?

For some situations, prepping just isn’t enough. If you don’t have
plans for the following, you cannot consider yourself to be truly
prepared.

Water

Clean drinking water is one of the most important requirements for
survival. Now is the time to figure out how you will get water if your
stored water runs out. Some ideas might be:

Rain barrels (which are beginning to be illegal in some states)

Less obvious water collection containers like pools and ponds
(don’t forget the roof if you live in an apartment building

Water purification methods

Locate nearby lakes, rivers and streams

Wells (including non-electric pumps)

Food production

Many people believe that they will just be able to stick some seeds
in the ground and feed their families year round. It isn’t that easy.
You can only learn the foibles of your bit of ground through trial and
error. It takes a lot more veggies than most people think to feed a
family for a year. Anything from a blight to bad weather to a horde of
hungry bunnies can wipe out all of your hard work and leave you without
a bite to store away. Look into some of these methods:

Gardening in your backyard or on a balcony

An aquaponics or hydroponics system

Raising chickens and other micro-livestock

Sprouting

Hunting and foraging (a nice supplement to your diet but a risky
plan for long term survival when everyone else has the same idea)

Full-scale farming

Rooftop gardening

Greenhouses and cold-frames

Food preservation

Not all of us are lucky enough to live in a place where we can grow
food outdoors all year long. For the rest of us, food
preservation is a lifeline in the winter. A few basic supplies and
tools are needed. Just like food production, it’s important to
practices food preservation and work out the kinks now, while you still
have moderately affordable groceries as a back up. As well, this allows
you to rely on healthy, non-GMO foods instead of the inexpensive, highly
processed garbage at the stores. Learn the following skills:

Canning

Freezing

Dehydrating/drying

Pickling

Fermentation

Salting and curing

Root cellaring

Reduce dependence on utilities

Whether you live in the country or in a high-rise apartment, you need
to take steps to reduce your dependence on electricity at the flip of a
switch, water from the tap, heat from the thermostat, and cooking at the
turn of a dial. As the divide between the rich and the poor widen,
there could one day be a choice between food and electricity.
Your priorities are:

Water

Sanitation

Heat

Electrical power

Lights

Refrigeration or other method of safe food storage

Cooking methods

Every situation is unique so start now to amass the necessary tools
to meet your needs should the lights go out on a long term basis.

Personal defense

This is the sticking point for many people. But if you can’t defend
your supplies, your home, and your garden, you don’t really have them at
all – you are just using them until someone better armed or tougher
comes and takes these things away from you. Look at Argentina’s
economic collapse as an example of what could happen – violent crime
there increased by 35% in one year. One study went so far as to
call property crime a tool of redistribution: ”Overall, these results
suggest that property crime has been used as a redistributive tool for
the poorest to compensate for their impoverishment during the last
decade and in particular during the ultimate crisis in Argentina.

Some solutions for personal defense:

Arm yourself and learn to use your weapon of choice

Stock up on ammo while it is still available

Have secondary methods of defense in which you are proficient

Learn basic hand-to-hand self-defense skills

Home security

Not only should you be prepared to defend your home, but you should
try to avoid the fight in the first place by securing your property.

Make your property less accessible by fencing it

Install heavy doors in reinforced frames

Install sturdy brackets to hold a bar in place on either side of
the doors

Growing thorny inhospitable plants under windows and on fences

Place alarms on windows and doors

Install security cameras (even if they are fake and just have a
blinking light)

Keep a low profile – if no one else has lights or power, cover
your windows thoroughly so that they cannot see that you have them

Consider the potential necessity of standing watch in shifts if
the situation has thoroughly devolved

Change your perspective on finances

Devastating financial changes are coming to a location near you.
Wouldn’t you prefer to make
the cuts now and adjust accordingly, instead of having them forced
upon you through evictions, foreclosures, repossessions, and other
painful methods? Making some difficult changes now can provide a stable
standard of living in a world that is going downhill at breakneck speed.
By decreasing
your monthly output, you can hang on to necessities.

Prepare for a potential barter-based economy – what skills do
you have that could be traded for essential goods and services?

The economic
collapse is not some far-fetched, end-of-the-world fantasy. It is
the reality that is occurring all around us, incrementally. The
collapse that has been occurring since 2008 has been one of 1000 small
cuts as income goes down and expenses go up.

No matter how much food you buy, it may not be enough to get you
through these difficult times. You must learn to be self-sufficient in
order to remain free from the control of those who would offer you
sustenance and shelter in return for your fealty.

Instead of a huge, life-changing calamity, consider that it may be
the culmination of many small events, rising prices and lower incomes,
and the deliberate erosion of our self-sufficiency by those who would
control us that cause TEOTWAWKI. (The End Of The World As We Know It).

The lists above aren’t comprehensive – they are jumping off points
to apply to your own situations. Wherever
you are planted, you need to come to grips with the fact that the
world as we know it is undergoing massive changes. Figure out now how
to make the best of it and not only survive with your family, but
thrive.

Ask the people in Greece whether they regret not having stocked up on
food supplies when those items were abundantly available. Ask the
people in Argentina whether they feel the need to be armed against
roving gangs and home invaders.

Hunger, cold, crime and fear are the daily realities in many
countries that once enjoyed a similar standard of living to that of the
average North American. Our debt-based standard of living is
unsustainable, and you must be able to connect these trends with what is
happening in your own country in order to see the need for preparation.

Today, you still have stores at every corner, reliable utilities, and
social safety nets in place. These may soon become a thing of the
past and if you wait before preparing, your window of opportunity may
slam shut.

I’m not suggesting that you stop prepping – your stockpile is vital
insurance that can help to cushion you when things go downhill. But
along with your food storage and your rocket stoves and your medical
supplies, begin creating a self-sufficient lifestyle that will carry you
far beyond what mere prepping ever could.

Please feel free to share this information in part or in
full, giving credit to the author and including a link to this website
and the following bio.

Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and
editor. Her website, The
Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy
prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and
non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter,
and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca